Fast2500Ak

Sorry for the long post but I'm trying to get these problems resolved fast, it's already below freezing most days and It's gonna be in the -40's to 60's all too soon. I really don't like the idea of doing engine work in the cold. Ok, I have this old late fifties early sixties school bus. It’s big, old, (and if it'll run) awesome. My dad turned it into a party bus when he was in high school and when he went away to college he just parked it out behind my grandma’s house. I never really gave it any thought but now I'm going to college up here in Fairbanks I've been trying to make it run. I didn't even know Chevy made school busses, but apparently they did. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So here are some of the problems it has if anyone has any suggestions I'd greatly appreciate them, 1. Lots of old fuel, I just thought it was the one 80 gallon tank, but there's apparently a generator in the back with its own 80-100 gallon tank. I know the main one is full, and the other at least has some rancid gas. Is there any other way to rid of it other than burning it, or siphoning it off? Can something run on it? 2. The some of the wiring is bad, lots of fuses bypassed but everyhting seems to work. 3. And worst of all, the engine won't turn. It’s a massive Chevy engine, I'm gonna have to guess 500 something CID gas engine. The starter just clunks against the flywheel, but the flywheel refuses to budge. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's what I've tried so far: It ran when parked, so I think the some of the piston rings are a stuck to the cylinder walls. I've already tried WD-40 in the chambers, and then I tried PB Blaster, now 5w-30 synthetic oil trying to get them loose. Which has yet to work My friend Joe says that I might be able to put some 2 stroke oil in the chambers and fire them one at a time, but that sounds like it could damage something and I don't like the idea of fire around all of that gasoline. So I took out the radiator and fan so I could get to the balancer thinking I could get to the balancer thinking I could just yank on the crankbolt till the crank moved but it just tightens and loosens. Joe also said that a ratchet strap around the flywheel might move it but it could also break it off, which would be lame. I'm thinking I might have to take off a cylinder head, but I don't really want to because I have no idea what kind of engine it is, I assume a Chevy big block. Also there’s a really scary looking relic of an ac unit which I'll have to take off, and I honestly have no idea if it still has compressed Freon in it. How hard is it to take off a Chevy big-block cylinder head. Sorry again for the long post.

Well, if you have an injector that's slightly clogged it migh help. I remember my parents first yukon, it was only about 16K and it got some bad gasoline and some of the injectors got a bit cloged and it hurt preformance. I'd say its good prevenative matinence. Besides you can't be the price 7 dollars a bottle.

I just ran a few cans of it through the PCV the other day, worked great idles better and the throttle response might have improved somewhat. Cheap, fun, fast and woth doing.

http://www.sdparts.com/product/12586484/pr...gsameasLS2.aspx like these? Will they work on stock heads? The manufactuer recomends the regular preformance ls6 springs so it's odd that they have a cam with .551 lift and springs which are recomended for .550 lift.

It's only off by .001 thats almost nothing will the springs really know the difference? If you're sure it can't handle it I thought I might try these. http://www.sdparts.com/product/SDL1600VS/V...LS1Setof16.aspx That seems to be the the next cheapest option. What dose everyone else use? Are there any brands I should avoid? I don't praticularly want to spend over 120 on valve springs, but I know they are important. Thanks again for all the help

http://www.sdparts.com/product/CRA144HR67/...5510551114.aspx http://www.sdparts.com/product/12499224/GM...pringSet16.aspx http://www.sdparts.com/product/KITSD51902/...9903LS1LS6.aspx Ok, I'm finally getting around to ordering the parts. I I'd greatly appreciate any feedback especially on the gasket kit. I'm not sure if I need all of the components but I think it's probably a good idea to get it anyway even if I don't need all of it. The engine is an LQ4 in my 01 2500hd. Any opinions on how well this will work, and does anyone know of any good places to have engine work done in Alaska just incase I decide I don't want to do this myself? Thanks in advance Billy

Some other things I thought of you might find useful 1 I took the Alaska Ferry from Bellingham Wa to Haines Ak day before yesterday. It's the worst part of the whole ALCAN from there to Tok. But you should know that some of passes you go through are CLOSING at night. I got stuck one I think it was called the chickalloon pass (somewhere near Glenallen I think) and had to sit and wait from 1:38 to 6 am. I would have rammed the gate or gone around if they hadn't set someone to sit by and gaurd the gate all night long. 2 Get a copy of the milepost, I think they sell them a AAA. It gives you a general idea of what the places along the way, weather the places on the map are really somewhere or just a just a truck stop or an rv park (alot of them are). But when you hit the Yukon Territory the milepost will become fairly useless. (Canada doesn't really put up many mileposts). 3 I found that if I took a torx socket and cranked up one of the headlights on my moms tahoe, it helped not only to annoy other drivers but to see things before they ran across the road. Sadly that didn't help this huge owl that we hit. It did however save what was either a dog or a wolf (I didn't get a good look at it). At any rate things like to run out into the road so be careful. 4 There's a restaurant in Tok called “Fast Eddies,” very good food, the motel attached to it and the Westmark were the only two accommodations I saw and both of them were without vacancies as of when I drove through it the other day. 5 I was warned by a friend of mine to avoid a town called "Toad Creek," I avoided it so I'm not sure why I was supposed to avoid it in the first place. (It looked creepy though). 6 and make use of the squeegee things at gas stations and bring plenty of windshield washer fluid, or the mosquitoes and other bugs will coat your windshield. 7 bring HEET and other fuel treatments, there didn't seem to be any quality control on gas in the YT. And another thing I remembered about fuel, we only saw one fuel station in the YT (until we were almost though it) that had a credit card payment option and it was rigged to overcharge (we were just thankful to find a running station). So if a station is closed its closed. 8 Oh and I finally got to test this when I was driving back up, OnStar doesn't work at all in the YT. There were towers closer to the towns so possibly an emergancy call might go through, but there is no onstar there. Just thought some of this might help If I think of anything else I'll add it.

You're going to drive the Alcan? I just drove that a few months ago with my mom. Interesting drive very remote take a spare gas can a lot of the stations along the way seemed to be either abandoned boarded up or burned down, some of them were open but had no gas (If you see one fill up, especially if you are under 3/4 of a tank). Not a lot of road signs either, the worst part is right before Haines Junction, it's like the roads from Dukes of Hazzard we were literally getting air on some parts of the road, and a lot of sharp curves. That said drive really, really fast (good opportunity to really open her up) I took my radar dector and it really made itself useful in the Alaska parts but I'm not really sure that they care about the alcan, didn't see one cop. We made it to Oregon in less than 4 days and it's supposed to be a six+ day trip. The Yukon territory in a nightmare I think it closes (everything closes) at 9:30 we ended up driving through the night the first day (no where to stay) and made it all the way to Whitehorse (a lot of those so called towns are really overgrown truck stops). There are only two places there that stay open all night, we stayed at the Yukon hotel it was pretty nice (wi-fi with no encrytion even if you don't stay there you can get into it from the aprking lot), the guy at the gas station said the other one was in a bad part of town. We ran into TONS of road construction so if that’s still there be prepared for ten to fifteen minute waits. CB radio is a real comfort, remember there are NO CELL PHONES until a ways into British Colombia, literally no signal at all. It makes you feel kind of isolated but if you got a cb or a satliate phone you might be able to get someone to help you if you break down. Make sure you have a few jugs of washer fluid for when the bugs hit and some oil and some fuel treatment incase you get bad fuel. Check your tire pressures, engine temp, fluid levels, ect. often. Also when the signs say LOOSE GRAVEL they MEAN IT. If a big truck is coming slow down we almost had our windshield put out and some nasty paint chips by an RV going way too fast down a hill. Also drafting works well it a good time to experiment with it, we were getting close to 25mpg in my moms fully loaded down 06 Tahoe with the 5.3 and grill/brush guard. Also remember everyone is going to be going really fast, but the road is nice and wide and good for passing until you hit some of the more mountainous areas in BC (thats a real fun adventure). Another thing I thought of the speed limits are infufferable (45 mph) for no reason in a lot of places with no resume speed signs.

I've never had to use it but I've pulled other chevys off of snow banks. It's good it you want to be dam sure that they don't forget and try to drive backwards (twards you), which usualy ends in disaster as some of my friends can tell you.

I belive you put the car in neutral then hold the 4hi and 4lo buttons then I think a small amber colored light next to "neutral" should come on. I haven't done this in a while on my 2500hd but I think thats how it works.

You click on the dot for the i I think thats the one your thinkning of?

I keep mine lower on the windshield and in reach. That way if I get pulled over I can throw it into the console. cops won't cut you as much slack if they suspect you were trying to speed. So far I've never been pulled over. A couple of close calls though.

To use a ph testing kit you usually add a drop of the indicator to a sample of the pool which should change color. There should be a key with different colors which show various degrees of acidity or alkalinity. That’s basically the component of the water that is either hydroxide or hydronium ions. The ph content is the amount of Hydronium vs. the Hydroxide ions. Chlorine is a Hydroxide ion (a base). You want the water to be basic. Bases tear apart protein chins, which means basic water the less likely it is to have algae and stuff in it. Too much chlorine is bad for you. That’s ph and ph testing in a nutshell. The yellow stuff and the red sutff (the red stuff might be Phenol), are indicators, one I think should be better for measuring acidity, and one for alkalinity. Isn' there any kind of labling on the bottles? On a side note if the pool has a cover, roll it out during the day. Algae and lost of other cyanobacteria that need light to thrive.

Thanks for all the help, I think I'll go with the Z+220.

I found a comp cams one that is - 216 / 220 .525 / .532 114 LSA that claims to pull in the 1300-6300 ranges and a comp cams - 212 / 218 .522 / .529 114 LSA That claims to pull in the 1200-6000 ranges A thunder racing cam that specs at 224/227 .563/.569 114 LSA And the closest mach Z+220 from SDPC 220/224, 0.551/0.551, 114 Those are close to the specs but I can't find an exact match. I'm thinking about the SDPC what do you guys think? Thanks again for the help.

I've done some research and I think I've narrowed it down. I'm trying to decide between two cam's for my 6.0L (it's not the high output.) I'm worried the fist might be too big but I'd rather have a little bit too big than too small 210/218 .531 lift 112 LSA I'm not going to get tuning done right away, and I want to know if this one would actually run before I do get it tuned. This is a heavy truck, and I don't want my low end to be compromised. I also don't plan on changing the torque converter. And I'm worried that this one might be too small and that I wouldn't even notice it, which would be really lame. 216/224 .551 lift 115 LSA I want to be able to hear some lope, but I don't want it to be overwhelming or stall. I don't want a really big cam, just some noticeable gains and a cooler idle. I don't have any expirence with cams so I thought I'd ask some people who do. the truck already has magnaflow duals and a K&N CAI and a few other mods. Any input would be greatly appricated.

I don't think that that can work. What you're thinking of is Bernoulli's princiapl which says that as the speed of a moving fluid (also true of air) increases, the pressure within the fluid decreases. So yes it is going faster, but I don't think it is going any more efficiantly because the presure drops. Kind of like a low-flow shower head, yeah its hitting you with more froce, but less water. When it all comes down to it, it's still a smaller diameter.

When they change the gas blend in the winter they often add additives to reduce emmisions, at least thats what they do up here in alaska. They started doing that after the inversion layer started getting really bad. It could make it less efficient.

haha, yeah I didn't think about that. I live in alaska and yes they are big spaces now I think about it. About 90% of the vehicals at my school are trucks so I guess it makes sense. Still if you ever come across large parking spaces...

If you park diagonally in the slot |\| people don't park as close and it helps to keep your doors out of accidental firing range. I saw this alot in my school parking lot where there wern't enough spaces to park alone.

If its on it's own circuit then maybe you could just pull the fuse, that might work as a temporary fix if it is really hot out. I know on the tahoe that I mentioned, the problem involves the pcm and that has a lot of other things wrong with it that all began when we had the autostart installed.

The big three are BP, Exxon, and conocophillips. My dad is an engineer for conocophillips, I figure if I burn more gas some of that money will eventually come back. lol

My mom has an 06 Tahoe that does something like this. If it starts doing it I restart the car, that usually gets it to stop.

I don't usually post, I just read the forums, but I know a solution to this problem. If you use mozilla firefox there are a number of extension you can install to download things off of streetfire and youtube. I never have needed to use one, but I know that you can.